I am getting ready to do a cam swap and was thinking about putting in a 160 deg t-stat while i have the coolant drained.......do they really help that much? Or should i just look into a manual fan override setup?

Thanks!!

 

Help a little on the highway, won't help in traffic etc without a switch or reprogramming the fans.

 

it depends how good it actually works. If it keeps your car at 160', you will lose power significantly. We did this mod on a friends' lightning and he ended up losing 5-10hp across the board because your computer still thinks the car is warming up, and holds back a few degrees of timing.

 

If you need one. I have one for sale.

 

I will have the computer programed soon, and i can have it set up for this temp.

I will send you mail slammedta.

 

Replied to your email, let me know if your interested!

 

It doesn't keep ur car running at 160o, it open the valve at 160o and allows the coolant to circulate sooner and help in heat dissipation sooner. This is good for your heads and cooler heads allow for less expension in the chamber (more dense mixture) which means more power with more curve advance which is provided by a performance tune.

In the old days we used to go as far as totaly removing stats on sbc's ( in summer or for track)

 

If your radiator is adequate and is not plugged up it should keep you running at 160*. It's open fully at 160* and will partially open sooner. The object of having the thermostats temperature rated is to indicate what temperature they will keep your engine at.

 

the t-stat's only job is to keep the car from going under its rated opening temp. It does not mean that the motor is going to run at 160* or 180*. All it means is that if the temp goes below that point(160) it will close and prevent the motor from running colder. In the winter you may be able to get that low but i doubt it even with the fans running full blast and heater on. On the good side it will make the motor run a bit colder than stock depending on what you set the fan temp turn on to..

 

Well, i ordered 1 today from summit racing. I hope it was worth the $50.

 

It sure does give me a feeling of security when I see my car running at a lower temperature. I have the stock T-Stat with fans at a lower temp. It runs at the 1/4 mark.

 

Yup, total misconception that the rating of a T-stat is exactly what temp your car will run.

Someone correctly pointed out that it only dictates the opening and closing.

Just for reference: My LT1 car with Hypertech 160 stat and and lower fan trigger points runs 175-185 F. My '01 SS needs the 160 stat to keep coolant at 210 !!! due to the Vortech setup.

Note: GM factory temp gauges are "ballpark figure" accurate. Put the car on Autotap or similar monitoring to get your true coolant temp. My '94 suffers no degradation in performance by being "too cold" according to doing runs with Auto X-ray monitoring.

BTW, Venkman's example is a true story (but on a F*rd product). On some vehicles it is possible to run "too" cold if your computer has a "warm-up only " mode.

 

FYI, My car, w/ a 160* t-stat, runs between 180-200* in the Texas heat, according to my after market temp guage. The stock guage always reads around 210*. My 1st fan is set to come on at 190* and the 2nd comes on at 200*.

 

Stock temp gauge is a dummy gauge. I Have an Autometer one and as my stock one reads 210, its actually arond 175o- 180o on the Autometer.

 

BTW most stats open or close gradually like a faucet being turned on or off, there is an in between closed and wide open. A 160 stat starts opening around 160...it's closed tight at 159 then wide open at exactly 160.

 

I see this a lot. Both fans come on at the same time. In low speed mode, the fans are in series and run slower at 6 volts each. When the PCM calls for more cooling, it switches them from series to parallel, running on 12 volts each.

 

i was told the LS1 pulls the best numbers running the temp around 180 or so. i mean i might be wrong and if i am correct me, i might have been told wrong. but i have the 180 in mine and just keep adjusting the fans until i can get it right. in traffic i run no hotter than 188

 

I have tried two 160 T stats in hot water with two thermometers. Both started to crack open right at 160 degrees with full open by 175.

 

Larry,
nice experiment but you are forguetting the water pressure factor in a closed system on a car.
Mine is fully open at 160o.

 

I don't believe a 160 degree thermostat is fully opened at 160 degrees. That's where it just starts to open. If it were fully opened at 160 degrees then you would see 160 degree temps in cool weather at highway speed...you don't.

Larry's hotwater tests (I've done them too) also supports this.

Somebody mentioned the LS1 making best power at 180. That is true. The test that I saw showed best power at 178...but we're talking tiny differences. There wouldn't really be much difference between 170 and 200. What's more important on the dyno are the temps (and therefore the viscosities) of the lubricating fluids from the engine all the way to the rearend.